Walker: Meteor takes aim at Russia — again

I was poking a little harmless fun at the celestial visitor 2012 DA14, the asteroid that had a non-threatening near miss with the earth Friday.

I mentioned the incident that occurred in Russia more than a century ago when a meteorite smacked into the ground, wiping out hundreds of square miles of forest.

Wouldn't you know that on the same day 2012 DA14 whizzed by, another meteorite thumped Russia.

I guess celestial bodies have no sense of humor. I'll leave them alone in the future.

Unlike the earlier meteor strike in history, this latest one did not happen in anonymity.

The explosion of the rock above the surface of the earth was captured on thousands of surveillance cameras, cellphone cams and myriad of other snoopy devices that are everywhere nowadays. I have to admit, it was pretty impressive. The sky lit up and whited out just like it does in the movies when a meteor hits the planet.

As one tweeter said, the rest of the world learned how to swear in Russian after seeing the amateur videos.

Of course, because the cruise ship drama and the California killer cop saga over, the cable news channels homed in Friday on 2012 DA14 (whom I nicknamed Bill) complete with giggling anchorettes and plenty of computer graphics showing there was no chance the rock was going to hit us. If you are reading this, I guess they were right.

My favorite was a guy who spent about 30 minutes using graphics to illustrate the difference in size between the earth and the 50-yard-long asteroid. I suppose that was for the severely dimensionally-challenged viewer.

Just as the rock passed its closest point, one breathless anchorette declared we had witnessed a "major cosmic event."

Really?

Then she said this should be a wake-up call to the residents of Earth.

To do what? Change our ways? Our diets? Our politics? Our attitudes?

Forget the national deficit and health care reform, we should focus on a meteor that might hit us in the next few centuries,

The solution to celestial body blows is simple. Just have all the politicians in Washington speak at the same time as the thing approaches and the super-heated air would knock it off course.